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Muggy day at the Farmers’ Market – 23 Jul

Some days feel much warmer and uncomfortable than the thermometer reading suggests. One cracked-open door small moment in anticipation of having Tea on the Balcony revealed that today was one of those days. As the beautiful green eyes of Posh Pasht looked up at the Caustic One, the door was quickly shut again, and apologies made to the Feline overlord. Not happening.

Also not happening was working on some of the garden beds this morning. And serious consideration into whether leaving the house at all, for anything, was even something that was worth the foray into the steam sauna.

Hm. What to do. M Planet really didn’t *need* anything at the Farmers’ Market. But the people, the smaller farmers, are nice to talk to. And after a week of very little Other Adult Human contact, that was more of a “need” than trading coupons for veggies. So after a cup of coffee and some muesli, the wet heat was braved.

Today’s stash was much greater than expected. By farmer:

  • Joyful Wren – these are the people whose hens lay the most beautiful eggs! Plus, they have small eggs, which are nice as ‘bundtei’ – boiled eggs. They also made some seriously delicious Scotch Eggs!! Today, they also had new potatoes. Those in the know, know that Potatoes are one of the Great Loves of M Planet (-:
  • Kountry Fresh / Koss Family Farms – the aquaculture gurus. Tilapia and two heads of Boston Bibb lettuce. Last week, the tilapia was poached in stout and cream, with garlic, onions, and Italian seasoning. The BB lettuce heads are small, and perfect for Salad for One.
  • Moore Family Farm – This week, a bunch of produce called out: pickles and dill – for ‘crock pickles’ (which, since the cracking of the crock pot, will be done in Large Weck Jars instead, or maybe Large Olive Jars, if there are any empty ones hiding in the pantry) – sadly, they will have to be made without grape leaves. The Old Settlement Cookbook from … oh, 100 years ago… calls for grape leaves under and on top of the pickles. They do add something marvelous to the flavor. Picked up some golden beets, although the leaves were not appealing, so no greens will be enjoyed from this batch – not sure if they will be cooked plain or grated into a nice summer salad with vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil. The dining companion likes plain beets, but won’t touch the grated salad. Literally purchased a handful of green beans for dinner. Also a few red spring onions; these are lovely roasted with olive oil and herbs, or minced over salad. And finally, some breakfast sausage billed as “maple flavored”. Would like to think that means they have actual maple syrup in them.
  • Roth Countryside Produce had some beautiful bell peppers in pale yellow and lilac colors. Stuffed peppers will be had for dinner! These will not be rice filled, however – they will be filled with chicken prepared with maize flour a la tamale filling. Picked up a few red tomatoes as well, may make a tomato salad with one of the red onions from Moore Family Farms.
  • Meyer Produce had the most inviting Turkish eggplants! They are beautiful orange striped small things, but will probably make amazing Baba ghanouj. Also picked up an Asian melon called the Sun Jewel. It was a bit like a honeydew, with a pale interior. The seeds were all in the center, easily removed for saving. The melon had some spots that were more sweet than others, which was surprising. Also picked up some beautiful orange-yellow tomatoes.

So with all of these things now gracing the counter, some decisions will have to be made as to what edible delicacies will be made. At this very moment, however, the idea of baba ghanouj is gaining ground. This means, though, that either some crisp bread or pita will need to be made, as the conveyance upon which the deliciousness will “get in the stomach!”… although, baba ghanouj can also be used as a dip, and goes well with cucumbers. Hm. So many options.. so little time.

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Another Farmers’ Market Haul!

This week’s haul

The trip to the Farmers’ Market almost didn’t happen today – Someone felt the need to complete watching the entire book dramatization (read: TV series) of Lethal White last night, which made getting out of bed a major production. Somehow, though, the Great Feat of getting dressed, organized, and out the door happened before 830 A.M. in spite of a “certain knowledge” that the lines would be horrific at this point.

The weather in the area has been quite warm and humid, with storms building and finally arriving yesterday. The result of this is that this morning, the temps were much cooler and the humidity lower. In practical terms, it meant that it was much easier to breathe as the Amazing M Planet opened the door and stepped out to make the trip to the Farmers’ Market. This was a refreshing surprise. No. It was much more than refreshing. It was amazing, and a bit of a joyful-soul-WOW! moment to step out the door and not be instantly drenched in sweat as the sauna hit.

The general feeling among the vendors, farmers, artists, and consumers present this morning was one of relief, with commentary about the lovely weather this morning being an overarching theme of conversation.

Today’s haul was fruit-heavy. This is because the Mileur Orchard farmers had seconds available, both in peaches and in nectarines. Seconds are a great way to support a local farmer and yet be easy on the budget. Sauces, chutneys, juices, and jams do not require picture-perfect fruit. These seconds are small and have interesting shapes, but the flavor is out of this world. They also had small apples available. Many of the apples will be dried. Dried apples can be used in granola, muesli, tea blends, tisane blends, and as a single-note tisane. A hot apple tea in the autumn is a marvelous thing, and easy to prepare: Add boiling water to the dried apples, let sit ~10 minutes, and decant. Apple tea is popular in many cultures, but most of the commercial products are powders. M Planet experienced apple tea made from actual dried apples in Iceland one November, drinking it while looking out over the moor across from the National Museum of Iceland. The peaches and nectarines will also be dried and used in the same ways.

One of the vendors, Meyer Produce, had small cherry tomatoes and blackberries. Some of the nice things about the smaller tomatoes are that they are a nice snack, have a full flavor punch, and are easy to portion. Larger tomatoes are great when canning, slicing for sandwiches, and salads, but if a household is watching their food budget, sometimes only half a large tomato is used, and the rest put in the fridge for later. Tomatoes taste best when stored at room temperature, but leaving a half-used tomato out is not plausible option – although the fruit flies, post-harvest pathogens (aka molds) do love a left-on-the-counter-overnight tomato. The beautiful color of Meyer’s tomatoes was outshone by the full flavor profile; a great investment. Salad toppings, taco toppings, bruschetta (yes, a bit of a pain with a small tomato but with bruschetta, lots of flavor makes the best end result). The blackberries were a bit of an impulse purchase, because they are tasty, but some will be dried and used in a blackberry, sage, rosemary, and black tea blend experiment.

The Amazing Kountry Fresh / Koss Farms people had basil available today, which is driving the bruschetta conversation. They have packets of green and purple basil; TGTW prefers the purple for bruschetta, but the idea of making a small amount of pesto has come to mind. TGTW is not a fan of pine nuts, mostly because they aren’t used enough to make having them around until they go rancid (which they will, quickly, even in the refrigerator). However, pesto can be made with any sort of nut, or nutty thing, so that’s not a limitation – think peanuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, peppitas, toasted dals/ split beans or peas. This time around, the sampler pack called – each of these lettuces has a different flavor, and a chef’s salad with multiple lettuce varieties is a treat.

Today the Joyful Wren Farmers had small eggs. They also had garlic! TGTW has been meaning to try to make Scotch Eggs, but the small eggs are preferred for this. Scotch eggs pack a huge protein punch, and a bit of a crunchy-decadent punch, so the idea of using small eggs for a smaller treat is quite intriguing.

Twin Acres Farms had some absolutely inviting onions. In fact, they reached out from across the walkway and called to TGTW, a bit of a siren call from onion to onion lover. They are a lovely purple-red spring onion and will be put to good use. Quickly. Lately MP has been roasting spring onions – cut in half and toss or brush with olive oil and whatever seasonings appeal. Bake at 400 deg F for about an hour. The outside will caramelize and the inside will be soft and sweet. Alternatively, throw on the grill and cover while cooking.

The hope of getting some chicken thighs from Moore Family Farm was quickly dashed – they were sold out! Good on them. Sad for me. Thankfully Triple S Farms had some; their chicken is always tasty. Another round steak from Triple S for the freezer made its way into the bag as well – last week, this ended up being Mongolian Beef over rice. Marinaded overnight, the meat is tasty and tender in stir fries. Especially – tasty. And because the dinner companion is a bit picky, after trimming all the fat from the meat, the smaller pieces that were too small to cut into strips were minced and mixed with some red spring onion and salt, and placed atop homemade knakkebrod, for a decadent (NO WORMS) teatime treat.

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Farmers’ Market Haul 02 Jul 2022

The Urbana Farmers’ Market has a great selection of farmers, producers, artists, food trucks, and even musicians at various corners of the Market. The Market participates in LINK match, which means that, for up to $20 in EBT/Food Stamps, an additional 2x in value is given to the shopper for use on fresh fruits, vegetables, fungi, herbs. TGTW supports a fair price for produce to local, family farmers and producers, but in the real world of socioeconomics, this puts fresh, healthy food out of reach for many people. The Link matching program makes it possible for people with limited financial means to obtain fresh produce at the Farmers’ Market.

This week, the following items were obtained:

  • Eggs from The Joyful Wren. Not only are their eggs delicious, they are beautiful. They also are easy on the digestive tract!
  • Round Steak from Triple S farms. Great for Rouladen, stir fry, tartar – the flavor is wonderful.
  • Pork Sausage and sausage links from Moore Family Farm. Moore Family Farm was recommended to TGTW by a veterinarian colleague, who asserted that their animals were well cared for – “They do animal husbandry right”. Because of this, TGTW likes to support them by purchasing from them. They also have a great vegetable selection!
  • Tilapia and lettuces from Kountry Fresh Farms / Koss Family Farms. The tilapia is so fresh, as are the lettuces. A favorite is panang curry style tilapia!
  • Peaches and nectarines from Mileur Orchard – today, we were able to get ‘seconds’ peaches. These are just as tasty but smaller or funny shaped; sauces, leathers, canned chunks are all great ways to preserve these for a taste of summer later in the year. Nectarines were also available, for a “fuzz free” experience.
  • Red and white spring onions from Sola Gratia, a local farm which grows for local soup kitchens and charities providing fresh produce to folks.
  • A couple of interesting-sounding jams from Tiger Gardens. TGTW uses jams as a sort of “instant smoothie/lassie” component, as well as summer time flavored iced teas.
  • New potatoes, both red and white, from Roth Produce.
  • Dill and pickles from Green G Farm. Oddly, TGTW hadn’t thought of making pickles with this until … well, just now.

So, what to do with all this food?

The meat will go into the freezer for the time being, but usually the round steak is made into Rouladen or used in stir fry; mushroom beef or mongolian beef is popular around the dinner table. And.. well, it tastes really nice chopped up raw with onions and salt and pepper. M Planet loves raw meat; that germanic upbringing where raw ground round was served with salt, pepper, onions, and a good rye bread for special occasions (including a Very Strange Wedding) just .. is. Whilst in Europe, raw lamb, beef, and even pork (Worms! – actually, would never eat raw pork in the US. Germany is a small country and the animal inspection process for meats meant to be served raw is different there, and the spice mix is lovely) were a treat for both M Planet and the Feline OverLord. All the vegan/vegetarian people reading this are now cringing – don’t be a hater. Tofu literally ruins my life because of the phytoestrogens.

The ground pork is great in Wedding soup, but TGTW has been meaning to try making Scotch Eggs. Sometimes the Joyful Wren has small eggs, which would be nice for that attempt! But today, they were out of them – an egg is a perfect protein pack, and as such, a lot of eggs are cooked and consumed. Joyful Wren eggs are so beautiful, that our Artistic Side (VFP-McFergies) uses them for some of the art that they do! Tilapia is a really nice, light fish that poaches quickly and easily (and can be overcooked easily as well); the top favorites are Thai Style – panang curry, guiness and cream, white wine, and hard apple cider.

Peaches have so many potential uses – dried, leathered, canned, made into sauces, chutneys, juices. And then there is always ‘eating over the sink dripping down your face and hands’! Maybe another meringue pie – crisp. Oatmeal crisp with peaches. Love, love, love peaches – millions of peaches, peaches for me… which reminds M Planet of The Presidents’ song:

Peaches! Song by PUSA

Then there are the Potatoes! Spring onions! Roasted, toasted, fried, buttered, herbed, mashed… TGTW loves potatoes and onions.

So the obvious missing element is .. tomatoes. The last time tomatoes were purchased from the Farmers’ Market, they were pretty but didn’t have much flavor. This is anathema to Mx Planet. There are several varieties budding on the balcony, so rather than tasteless large tomatoes, we’ll just be waiting for our Very Local heirloom babies to produce.

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Farmers’ Market visit – more to yap than to buy…

just a little haul…

M. Planet has become accustomed to the fresh lettuce and herbs from Kountry Fresh Farms. Because of this, when they aren’t at the Farmers’ Market, a sort of brain-freeze happens that requires the purchasing routine to be re-evaluated. Usually a bag or two of lettuce is perfect for the week’s lunch salads. This weekend, Kountry Fresh had sold out of all of their delicious offerings during the week and was not at the market. Thankfully, Avery farms has a nice salad blend as well.

Farmer Avery: “oh! you’re back!”

M. Planet: “ah, yes. Koss Farms is not here today, so I will need to purchase more of your salad mix”.

The acquisition of purple asparagus, rhubarb, and a large quantity of salad mix had already been made from Farmer Avery that morning. We talked a little about Koss Farms (Kountry Fresh), and Farmer Avery shared that he used to have a stall next to Koss, and that they only had one type of lettuce at the time. Apparently they have really branched out, as there are frequently at least five varieties of lettuce, as well as herbs, at the Koss stand.

There was a group selling tomatoes: beautiful orange, pink, and red ones. They also had a basket of mixed ones with a sign saying “Small and Ugly tomatoes” – for 75c/pound cheaper than the others. They were neither small nor ugly, but a selection was made from these. So far, they have been sliced and eaten with a little salt, made into a tomato and red onion salad with some salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar, and eaten in salad. They aren’t as flavorful as expected, but then, these aren’t from The Great Tomato Woman’s gardens! They’ll be fried one of these days (a la Full Scottish Breakfast) as well.

Grabbed a couple bunches of herbs from Sola Gratia (dill and oregano). Will try to root the oregano; the dill will go into salads and was part of a pickling brine for the purple cauliflower obtained in an earlier trip:

Cary’s Garden of Eatin’ had quite a selection; picked up some cucumbers from them for salads and sandwiches and just plain eating.

Mostly Farmers’ Market offerings: Panang curry style Tilapia from Koss on soba noodles accompanied by Grateful Wren Eggs, Cary’s Garden of Eatin’ cucumbers, Sola Gratia pickled Daikon, and tomatoes.